The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-09-25
A srArUr ron BALsAc
Zele Denouncsa By MS Own Dtscipiss-IEis
Career ~ IN End-HaIsac's Present Hnnu.
ence en- French eoetety-A Lcst Portrait
or Haiyso Painted BIZ Ncissonier


Career ~ eu End-1sIsao's Present Hnnu.
enee On French sooiety-A Lcst Portrait
OF Bsizso Raintca By Mcissonier
PARIS, Sept. 1s-Among the literary people
In Paris, and one may say also among tho
public In general, there 10 but one opinion
about Zola's new book, La Terre" It 10 an
abominable calumny OF tho French peasant.
1t Ia the last measure full OF filth which has
disguised even the most indulRent: and II 10
the work Of sick and perverted mind. lola
Is dono for as literary leader. and he has
even been denounced publicly by q group Of
young men OF talent who have hitherto passed
as his disciples, or who ut any rate would
never have written what they have written
II lola had not existed. The protestation OF
these young men received all the publicity
that the front page Of the Figaro can give: for
nearly month 1t was discussed by all the
press; and the result OF 1t Is the general con-
clusion that lola Is disgrace to France, and
that 1t would have boon botter for all II ho had
never written. for never has any man made
such an effort TO vilify humanity TO insult all
tho images OF beauty and OF love. and to deny
all that Is good and all that is virtuous." to
quote the words OF tho gravest Of oil French
newspapers, Le Temps In short within tho
past two months an evolution has taken place
in public opinion In France, and lola has been
finally classed as course, erotic, and scatologi-
cal writer. flt only to corrupt schoolboys or to
Ill with evil thoughts the minds Of provincial
dry goods clerks. This judgment is too abso-
lutte to be Just: but the pendulum has swung
to tho end OF Its course from one extreme to
tho other. and 1t will remain for future critics
to find the middle point whore truth los.
Zola's repulsive and calumnious portrait OF
the peasants suggests comparison with the
pictures given by other literary painters Of the
French agriculturists-the british creatures
described by La Bruyere. the romantic peas
ants Of George Sands novels, and the micro
scopic portraits depicted by Bazac. None Of
these descriptions arc absolutely exact, but Of
all OF them the pavsans Of Balzao contain tho
largest dose Of truth.
It so happens that this superiority Of Balzao
has been remarked just at the moment when
the Mayor OF Tours Is announcing in the press
that subscription Is open for erecting monu-
ment to the memory OF the great novelist.
Whati has Balzac no statue? Have the statue
maniacs who are covering France with marble
and bronze eflGies Of mediocrity. forgot
ten the author Of the Coincide Humane
ssd on ss na 49, g. ths
lis sraE oss F Mss w sa vsH
Louis Napoleon's coup d'stdt, and Balzac was
couTse as possse and SUBJECT
statue-until 1888. when subscription was
opened under the patronage Of the societs des
subscription showed how difficult It is to repair
neglect. Taking advantage Of the flu1 Of pan
Setta and M' HUGE. Tie committees formed Tor
scription Lists Immediately and collected large
had absolutely no luck. and finally 1t was
abandoned. Last week. as we have seen.
TIE Mayor Of Tours opened another subscrip.
mirers Of Balzao a nest egg Of some q 500; 80
the unwilling OF bronze or marble efhgy In o
year or eighteen months time.
ndsS 20 not e t bsac e %ss ms
During the first half Of tho nineteenth century
there were in France three literary men whose
Hugo. Alexandra Dumas, and Honore de Bal
FAC. whose Coincide Humane passes for q
n r sna tRp
the reign Of Louis Philippe e ancient history;
What do contempoEary Fre9chme r. ca R about
t to-day read BaiHse boes Baieac . eseress sti
an INFLUENCE on French literature and French
s sSss y Th sss &C Sedt to the
Caimann Lsvy and entitled, Repertoire de il
tole Cerfberr ct Jules Christophe.S Being Gu
rious in. all matters concerning Balzac
e eDafp re sas as S foiio Hs p epTEH "
T. tas seSss sss
1oyas! IA aunt q ME AnsopIa GhosaEaee In;
niece s y asams a. T.aIIie. IN Hsn%s a4a%iss.
Il
sssdss!s .ss. i$ea y oesSs.!
e ss iAs OF e Sen n
CyGns. Who had come expressly from FRANCE. and
s 1an q
va expected n as grand b. given BY The han
q " \ y
mage In April Isis. whiis passing review on the
e s yso s.s eSsss Wiz hss sshss
70 sss n. s
Which made tho great Marshal smilo ella Femme do
and and mixing fiction and reality in a most es.
WAT Is hs
RSSss ss Ssis WIZ 4 fS FAD
paae az The hso D jena qes
O0rIUerr anu CHtistOpue tue cOfIpll6tS Oh THIS
book, have ACCOMPLISHED work which would
have delighted Balzac, who was more COM
pletely the dupe Of his own creation than his
most fanatical admirers. They have arranged
In alphabetical order the stat cril Of all tho
personaGes Of the Comedie Humane. collected
the details and smallest adventures Of the
Balzac's fifty novels, compiled, In short, a fan
tastic biographical dictionary. Of the charac-
tors. real and imaginary, which are found In
tho whole Of Balzaos works-in other words.
a Eepertory Of upward Of 1900 names.
What is the use Of this repertory2 None
whatever as far as can see. It simply en-
ables one to embrace at a glance the whole
career Of some, personage who may figure
moro or less in half dozen different novels.
But this Is mere Idle amusement. and the re-
suit obtained is not sufficient to Justify the
compiling. printing, and publishing. Of this
heavy volume. And vet. when one thinks OF
the fascination which Balzac has always exer-
ctsed upon his admirers. the fact that two. OF
them should have devoted their energy to this
useless undertaking is not astonishing.
ago. O. lawyer from Philadelphia introduced
himself to me on the strength OF having read
something had written about Balzac. and
conflded to me that after office hours the COM
pilation OF q repertory Of the personages OF the
Coincide Humane was his fayorite evening
occupation. Henri Meilhac, the playwright,
has long cherished the idea without. however,
an rvin II In Tba fop,